This drag racing, dyno-melting Silverado packs a stroker motor, big compounds, a 4R100, and well north of 1,500 hp.
Among the fastest Duramax-powered trucks in existence, Nathan Bandstra has carved out a comfortable spot near the top. His eighth-mile monster holds the record for a 4×4 Allison combination, having gone 5.61 at 132 mph back in 2021 (and 8.99 at 158 mph in the quarter prior to that). Since then, Nathan traded in the A1000 for a 4R100 and left unpredictable shifts in his rear view mirror. The change brought newfound repeatability to his racing program—repeatability that made Nathan and his ’01 Silverado a formidable force in the Outlaw Diesel Super Series’ 5.90 Index category.
But when Nathan isn’t going rounds in 5.90, he has no problem cracking open the nitrous bottle and digging deeper into the 5’s—or chasing 2,000 hp on the dyno. He’s also no stranger to laying it all on the line at the dirt drags. Emboldened by a SoCal Diesel 7.1L stroker engine, a BTS 4R100, big VS Racing compounds, and plenty of fuel courtesy of Exergy Performance and Flux Diesel Injection, it’s easy to see why Nathan likes to lean on the platform from time to time. If you’re a Duramax fan, this is the racehorse you should be betting on.
Beneath the compound turbo arrangement that consumes much of the engine bay, Nathan pieced together a competition-ready Duramax with the help of a SoCal Diesel stroker kit. An LML block that’s been machined to accept O-rings (and that’s had its water jackets partially filled), houses a 4330M crankshaft (which brings displacement to 7.1L). The billet crank is anchored in place courtesy of SoCal’s billet main caps and girdle, along with ARP main studs. Carrillo rods and fly-cut, forged-aluminum Mahle pistons complete the race-ready rotating assembly. A SoCal 9200 alternative firing order camshaft, which is designed to shine between 2,500 to 5,200 rpm, also got the nod.Sourced through Unrivaled Diesel’s Chris Patterson, Nathan’s compound turbo setup begins with this VS Racing atmospheric unit. It boasts a massive, 13-blade, 106mm compressor wheel (inducer) and a 9-blade, 118mm/112mm turbine wheel that lives inside a 1.41 A/R exhaust housing. The T6, G57 frame charger also benefits from added durability and responsiveness thanks to its dual ceramic ball bearing center cartridge. Notice the wastegate plumbing feeding into the 106mm Garrett. Nathan integrated a single, 50mm external gate directly into the pedestal that mounts the valley charger.A sizeable high-pressure turbo from VS Racing lives in the valley. It’s equipped with an 80mm compressor wheel (inducer), a 96mm turbine wheel, and a 1.00 A/R exhaust housing. It mates to a T4 twisted pedestal from Wagler Competition Products. Combined with the 106mm atmosphere unit mentioned above, the compounds produce 80-psi of boost in fuel-only, 5.90 Index form. However, during extra-curricular activities Nathan tells us boost can easily top 100-psi with nitrous in the mix.Factory-based aluminum heads from Industrial Injection fasten to the block. They’ve been treated to 5-axis CNC porting, been polished and hand-blended, are equipped with 130-lb valve springs and benefit from unshrouded valves. ARP Custom Age 625+ head studs secure the high-flow heads in place. On the exhaust side, a set of ProFab Performance exhaust manifolds and up-pipes drive the high-pressure turbo located above a Wagler street intake manifold.Plenty of fuel contributes to the big-boost party courtesy of two 12mm stroker CP3’s from Exergy Performance. They feed ample high-pressure fuel to the rail, and ultimately a set of Flux Diesel Injection injectors. The LLY-based injectors are fitted with 330-percent over nozzles. Dual 200-gph Fuelab Velocity lift pump systems combine to supply the CP3’s more than sufficient low-pressure fuel (and we’re told only one pump is needed for the truck to run 5.90s). EFI Live software, in the capable hands of StarLite Diesel, is used to dial in the truck’s factory ECU.A custom intercooler, constructed from welding three Vibrant cores together, is tasked with dropping intake temps and helping control EGT. During the engine’s regular, 5.90 elapsed time workload, EGT checks in between 1,600 and 1,700 degrees F. However, the truck’s 5.54-second best yielded temps that crested the 2,000-degree mark. Most recently, the cold-side end tank met its fate at the Hub City Dirt Drags, bursting apart during the finale race in the dirt—a race where Nathan was calling on 2,000 hp to help him beat Austin Denny’s 1,930 hp 6.0L Power Stroke.Believe it or not, Nathan’s Silverado runs 5.90s without the aid of nitrous. None. Not even to spool the big 106. However, all of this lies in wait… A Wagler nitrous cannon, complete with a .1875” jet and a .3125” jet supported by two Nitrous Express Lightning 375 solenoids, introduces plenty of N2O if needed. Beyond that, a spool stage with a .090” jet is also on tap. Set on complete kill, Nathan believes his nitrous system brings an extra 1,000 to 1,200 hp to the equation.After sticking it out with the Allison for arguably as long as his patience would allow, Nathan traded in the five-speed automatic for a 4R100. Built by Brian’s Truck Shop (a.k.a. BTS) and equipped with a billet stator, triple-disc Goerend torque converter, the four-speed Ford transmission brought simplicity and (more importantly) improved consistency to Nathan’s race program. Fellow racer and friend, Dan Zelten, who currently owns the 4×4 Duramax eighth-mile ET record, was the primary reason Nathan made the switch. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without Dan’s help,” he told us. “I spoke with him at UCC 2023, then got the adapter plate, which set things in motion, and I had it up and running by August of ’23.”Instead of constantly fighting to outsmart the Allison, the 4R100 shifts the exact same way each time down the track and, in conjunction with BTS’s valvebody work, a TCM2000 controller from Powertrain Control Solutions is a big reason why this is the case. The transmission controller is tuned by Truck Source Diesel, a company that knows a thing or two about BTS 4R100’s, making big horsepower, and getting down the track in a hurry. But the fancy gadgetry ends there. There is no trans-brake or bump box. Nathan’s Silverado is a foot-braked hot-rod.If you were wondering how things looked in the cab, here it is. Most of the interior is ungutted. Protruding through the truck’s floor, you can spot the mount for the TCI shifter. On a typical 5.90 pass, with the 4R100 in second gear and his left foot matting the brake pedal, Nathan brings the engine up to 2,600 rpm and launches the truck with 20-psi of boost on tap. Roughly 60 feet out, he locks the converter and holds on for the ride.When high-powered, boosted four-wheel drive launches are a part of a late-model GM HD’s workload, it pays to reinforce the AAM 925 IFS system, and Nathan went overkill on just about everything. Upgrades include the familiar (and all-but-bulletproof) ultimate CV axles from RCV Performance, beefy, forged-steel stage 3 PPE tie-rods, and Cognito Motorsports‘ upper control arms. A rack and pinion conversion, using parts from a two-wheel drive Ram application, improved the truck’s steering and feel considerably.Supporting the race effort, the rear axle and suspension underwent a host of changes. The rear AAM 1150 was scrapped in favor of a lighter weight, AAM 1050 (10.5-inch diameter ring gear), the unit found in gas-powered GM 2500’s. It’s been upgraded with Yukon Gear & Axle’s 1541H alloy axle shafts and braking hardware from Innovative Machining Solutions. QA1 adjustable coilover shocks combine with leaf springs (one per side) to suspend the factory frame.To us, drag radials seemed like an interesting choice for 5.90 Index, but Nathan swears by them. “We initially ran them in order to be able to run the truck on the street, and for a race where we needed to be on 28’s,” he told us. That was three years ago, and the Hoosier DR2 D.O.T. drag radials have been on the truck ever since. They measure P295/50R16, mount to a set of old, 16×10-inch Raceline wheels, and are a key ingredient in the truck’s ability to cut 1.3-second 60-foots.Believe it or not, “the purpose was to daily drive the truck, and I did that for about six months,” Nathan told us. “Then I pulled the engine out of my sled puller and decided to go race a ‘little bit.’ I wasn’t originally planning on going 5.90 Index, I was just happy to break into the 6’s.” Things are a bit different now, with a roll cage certified for 8.50-second quarter-miles (5.50-second eighth-miles) and the regular cab ¾-ton tipping the scales at roughly 5,000 pounds. Fiberglass doors and bed sides, removal of the bed floor, the AAM 1050 swap, and dropping down to one rear leaf spring per side were among Nathan’s strategic weight-cutting measures.Despite missing three races (on a six-race schedule) in 2024, Nathan still managed to finish Seventh overall in 5.90 Index points (24 vehicles were signed up for the year). Despite the way things appear above, in this E1 battle at the Scheid Diesel Extravaganza Nathan got the win against Will Cunningham. About as tight as tight gets, Nathan beat Will by 0.0014 of a second which, according to Nathan, measures just 2.44-inches at the stripe. Even more impressive, Nathan had just wrapped up a water pump install on his engine minutes before he was called to the staging lanes.
